Leaf litter has slower decomposition rate in warm temperatures than previously thought
The time it takes for a leaf to decompose might be the key to understanding how temperature affects ecosystems, according to Kansas State University ecologists.
Category: Science
Could comet 3I/ATLAS teach us about life beyond Earth? Scientists say the story’s not over yet.
In July 2025, a large, bright cosmic object visited from beyond our solar system. Only the third interstellar object ever discovered, the comet — named
Japan switches on its first full-stack room-temperature quantum computer — and scientists plan to scale it up to 10,000 qubits
Researchers in Japan have switched on “Shunkai,” a neutral atom quantum computer that scientists hope to scale into a 10,000-qubit behemoth by March 2031. Shunkai
Hurricane Polo exploded in intensity in just 24 hours. Is the ‘super’ El Niño to blame?
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 06:31 EDT on Sept. 24 with news that Polo had intensified back to a Category 5 storm. A
Astronomers detected radio signals coming from an exoplanet for the first time. Spoiler alert: It’s not aliens.
For the first time, astronomers have detected radio signals coming directly from a planet outside our solar system, according to a new preprint study .
‘It has become very dire in a lot of places’: New map reveals exactly where humans are adding and removing precious fresh water on Earth
Earth’s continents are losing fresh water much faster than scientists thought, mostly because aquifer pumping in regions like northern India, southern Iran and parts of
Curiosity’s top 10 photos of Mars after 5,000 days of exploration
As of Aug. 30, 2026, NASA’s Curiosity rover has officially seen the sun rise and set over Mars’ reddish horizon more than 5,000 times in
NASA’s Hubble Telescope Reaches Milestone, Looks for Elusive Supernova
An image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of galaxy cluster MACS J0417 is part of repeated observations to monitor for the reappearance of supernova Athena
Biology Might Not Be Quantum, but Its Math Is Quantumlike
Two decades ago, scientists seemed on the verge of understanding biology in a new, quantum way. Life unfolds over an incomprehensible span of scales, from
Finally, a true blue rose exists
Scientists engineered roses that made both a blue pigment and a colorless helper molecule that brought out its shade.
First series of adult T. rex footprints hints at its walking speed
The steps were poorly preserved, but still hint at an ambling pace of 1.6 meters per second, roughly equivalent to a quick walking speed for
How did Hurricane Polo get so powerful?
A Pacific cyclone dubbed Polo exploded from a tropical storm into a powerful Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours on Tuesday (Sept. 22)
Earth’s first bats didn’t come from where we thought, landmark genetic study reveals
Scientists may have settled a decades-long debate about bat evolution, including controversial questions about when bats began to communicate and fly, a landmark study shows.
Missing Celtic fort annihilated by Julius Caesar finally found under Paris hospital
Archaeologists excavating a Paris hospital’s courtyard, a stone’s throw from Notre-Dame, have discovered the first evidence of a Celtic fort that Julius Caesar tried to